Dong Ky, A Wood-working Village

From Hanoi, take National Highway N°1A until Từ Sơn at Milestone N°18 and turn left. After going along this road for 4 km, you’ll arrive at Đồng Ky. This Village now belongs to Đổng Quang Commune, Tiên Sơn District, Bắc Ninh Province. It was formerly renowned for the annual firecracker festival held on the 4th of the 1st lunar month. In fact, it was a competition of firecracker-makers. The families taking part in the contest made big cylindrical firecrackers with a diameter of 0.5-0.8 m and a length of 3-5 m. To win the prize, the contestant’s firecracker must explode with a loud noise and to shreds.

Now, this contest has been abolished due to the ban on firecrackers throughout the country. However, the Village is still worth visiting because Đồng Kỵ is also well-known for its craft of making things of wood with high artistic sophistication. The whole village, in the day-time is full of sawing and chiselling sounds. The main articles made there are furniture of high quality: tables, chairs, cupboards and ornate beds. To make these products, many kinds of precious wood are used: talauma for big furniture to support a great weight; Sindora wood, iron wood (Erythopỉiloeum) and Chukrasia tabularis for the objects whose surface must be polished; for smaller furniture to be finely carved and decorated, the manglietia is preferred, and so on. There are not only traditional models such as cupboards, ornate beds, etc. but also modern ones: drawingroom furniture, wardrobes, etc. As to the decoration, everything is artistically carved and also inlaid with mother-of-pearl of seven colours. The motifs are numerous: grass, flowers, trees, leaves, butterflies, bees or human figures, river and mountain and so on. You will surely be surprised by the highly artistic products of modest ordinary artisans.